Police expect thousands to join Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) in Dresden in the former communist East, as well as large antifascist counter-protests.

The movement had all but vanished after pictures surfaced in January showing its co-founder Lutz Bachmann sporting a Hitler moustache, but it has made a comeback since September, when Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the doors to a surge of asylum seekers.

Angry protesters have accused her of "treason" and last week carried a mock gallows with Merkel's name on it.

The Chancellor on Monday again urged people to "stay away from those with hate in their hearts," her spokesman said.

De Maiziere implored citizens, even if they are concerned about the record migrant influx, to "stay away from those who inject this hate, this poison into our country".

Anti-foreigner sentiment is said to have motivated the bloody attack in the western city of Cologne on Saturday when a man used a hunting knife to stab independent mayoral candidate Henriette Reker, 58, who is active in helping refugees.

A group of 188 of the 310 lawmakers in Merkel's conservative block has doubts about her open-border policy, and its chairman Christian von Stetten said considering "border fortifications" must "not be taboo", according to Bild daily.

The EU wants Turkey to tighten border security and house more refugees in return for billions in financial help, visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens and an acceleration of its stuttering drive for EU membership.

But Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday said his country would not host migrants permanently to appease the European Union.

"We cannot accept an understanding like 'give us the money and they stay in Turkey'," he said in a television interview. "Turkey is not a concentration camp."

The Local's Tom Barfield will be reporting from the Dresden Pegida protest on Monday evening. Follow him on Twitter at @tombarfield, or @TheLocalGermany for updates.